Chavez graduate gets Green scholarship

The Robert E. Green Memorial Scholarship of $900 is awarded each year to a graduating San Joaquin County high school student planning to continue his or her education the following fall.

The Robert E. Green Memorial Scholarship of $900 is awarded each year to a graduating San Joaquin County high school student planning to continue his or her education the following fall.

Leslie Cazares Sanchez, a recent graduate of Cesar Chavez High School, is this year's recipient. She will be attending University of the Pacific's Community Involvement Program beginning this month. Her goal is to become a teacher and help mentor young women, as she was mentored by members of American Association of University Women in Stockton the past few years.

Students for the Green scholarship are selected in part for participating in community service during their high school years, as well as academic achievement and need. During her junior year, Sanchez was selected to represent Chavez High at the Summer Leadership Conference in Salt Lake City. She also volunteered for the Salvation Army and other community-based programs, and was active in the AAUW STEM Trek Mentor program while a student.

Robert Green, former longtime minister of the First Unitarian Universalist Church in Stockton, was an active voice in the greater community for social justice during the 1980s and '90s. Stockton Metro Ministry and Family Resource and Referral Center are two of his well-known projects. The scholarship in his name was funded by church members in gratitude for his community social service in Stockton.